Category: Animals

As many on this blog know, I am no fan of trophy hunting. I fail to see why it is impressive or thrilling to shoot a giraffe or elephant with a high-powered rifle. I just do not understand the thrill kill. I feel the same way about shooting grizzly bears, which I have traveled to Alaska to watch in the wild. However, there are many responsible hunters and, while I would not allow hunting grizzly bears, it is lawful in some states. What is not lawful is herding with snowmobiles so some fat cat on a high priced hunting thrill could shoot one. That is what Brian Simpson of Fairbanks, did for Wittrock Outfitters. He is now stripped of his master guide’s license and fined $2,600 in restitution for the killing of two grizzly bears.

In torts, we learn about animal liability rules governing dogs. While domesticated animals are generally not subject to strict liability, a dog with a vicious character (or one that has previously attacked) does fall under the strict liability standard. However, what about a vicious owner. Police are looking for a woman who attacked a jogger who used pepper spray to fight off her dog. The woman, not the dog, bit the jogger.

Chicago attorney Jerald Jeske, 51, believed that his wife loved her two Chihuahuas more than she loved him. One could certainly understand why she would feel that way after he then proceeded to throw both dogs off their balcony. According to WGN-TV in Chicago reported, one was killed and one survived long enough to run off (and has not been found).

As many on this blog know, I am no fan of trophy hunting (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). The latest controversy centers on Larysa Switlyk, 33, who is a trophy hunter from Sarasota, Florida who recently posed with dead animals on the island of Islay, Scotland with Instagram photos during the hunt. With her boyfriend Jason and another American, they shot an assortment of goats, stags, and sheep and then gleefully demonstrated the kill. I find these images entirely perplexing why people get such a thrill for such kills. I also fail to see the pride in posing with a beautiful animal that you just destroyed — let alone traveling around the world just to shoot their native wildlife for fun. In this case, shooting a bunch of sheep does not even strike me as challenging. There is simply the thrill of killing beautiful animals.

We have another story this week of a beloved animal who was killed by a hunter. Cinder was a young black bear that was nursed back to health after she was severely burned in a 2014 Washington wildfire. She became a moving story for many as she fought her way back to health and was eventually returned to the wild. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has now confirmed that she was killed. She was the subject of the book “Cinder the Bear: A True Story of Rescue, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Return.”

We have previously discussed the seasonal distemper that seems to take hold of PETA each year. Ironically, I am a huge animal lover (and many on this blog know) but I cannot understand how PETA has become such a fringe movement. The latest campaign is an effort by PETA to change common expressions that it deems “anti-animal” language.” It is an effort to jump on the growing movement to ban terms or phrases deemed microaggressions by individuals or groups on race or gender or religion or sexual orientation. Accordingly, PETA wants to call out people who say things like “bring home the bacon” in favor of “bring home the bagels.” I personally find the latter to be a raw breadist sentiment for those of us on low carb diets (if not cultural appropriation).

In Thailand, police are dealing with a rather novel case of road rage after a man was driving at an excessive speed through the Khao Yai National Park after being warned about animals on the road and hit an elephant in its back legs. The elephant proceeded to crush the car with the man in it.

As many on this blog know, I am no fan of trophy hunting. I fail to see why it is impressive or thrilling to shoot a giraffe or elephant with a high-powered rifle. I just do not understand the thrill kill. I often hike in remote areas to observe wild game. It is thrilling to see them in their natural habitat. However, some people want to enjoy killing such animals. The video below captures why some of us simply do not understand the joy of killing such animals. In the video, hunters sneak up on elephants in Nakabolelwa Conservancy in Namibia to kill an elephant. One excitedly encourages his friend to shoot the elephant between the eyes. They then shoot the animal and run away when the herd chases them. Continue reading “Video Captures The Thrill Killing of an Elephant . . . And A Herd Charging The Trophy Hunters”→

I have previously expressed my disgust over trophy hunting game like lions and elephants — people who post accounts of the thrill of killing a giraffe or rhino with a high-powered rifle. I simply do not understand the joy or power felt in these thrill kills. Nothing however quite prepared most of us for Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer. Fischer shared photos of his hunting trip in Africa where he posed with a photo of a entire “family of baboons,” including a baby, that Fischer massacred with a recurve bow. He gleefully reported that, while you are charged for killing large animals, “Baboons are free.”